Thanks so much for digging up and sharing that truly amazing newspaper article.

It's so funny- "free admission" but you need to get a ticket- and the "Whiteley's Mahoganny Bed" marked down to 6 pounds from 9-

That's "Whiteley's" on Queen's Road in London--

The <International Tournament> the advert refers to was a MAJOR historical event-

This one in fact: <London 1932>-

http://db.chessmetrics.com/CM2/Sing...

I just made a lengthy post on this tournament today over at <Eyal's> forum.

Alekhine, Flohr, Khan, Maroczy, Kashdan, Tartakower-

Vera finished in 8th spot.

You know what else is interesting is that "Whiteley's" is on <Queen's Road>-in London.

Menchik would play in the annual <Hasting's Christmas Congress> in December of 1932 as well-

And the Hastings Events were ALSO held in a venue on "Queen's Road" but in Hastings.

This venue was the rather grand Temperance Queen's Hotel-

Here is the listing for that tournament (Flohr was first)-

And patronized hugely. Nimzowitsch, introducing the players in his book on Karlsbad 1929, wrote "in order not to offend the ladies, Vera Menchik was also invited (and proved herself to be quite a gifted player, by the way)".

Ah, the ladies, bless 'em. Poor old Nimzo probably felt he was being quite fair, and a bit daring and dashing.

The very existence of a 'Vera Menchik club' - with its slightly 'saucy' subtext - supports the idea that Vera was seen as an anomaly. In maths, Kovalevskaya and Noether provide similar examples - but chess was competitive, making it even more 'unladylike'.

A lady didn't try to crush a chap's ego in those days. Not on his own turf, anyhow. There were other methods.

We can't *judge* the past by our own standards, but we can gape in wonder at it. Practically every pre-1960 book I've read on chess, maths, science - and even most science fiction - assumes that 'men' are the actors, agents, and readers.

Dr Johnson - the stone-kicking brute and lexicographical drudge - put it like this:

"Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all."

Don't worry, chaps. Your turn will come.

Sorry, wrong reality. I stepped into the Republic of Gilead for some balm. None to be had, though. Don't know how I'll tell Mr Poe.

"What, no balm?" he'll say. "I simply must have my balm. Is there balm in Gilead?" And off I go, like a tame raven. Well, I've had enough. Next time Mr Edgar Poe wants balm he can get it himself. Nevermore, is what I'll tell him.

I've been trying to read it in Russian. Slowly.

The collected works of Shakespeare, along with books by Tolkien, King and Rowling, were publicly burned in Alamogordo, New Mexico - previously known for its military base and aeronautics test facility - in 2001. That happened in *this* reality, btw.

Can you really read Russian?

Did you know Alekhine could speak fluent Russian, French, German, English, and Spanish?

He was pretty smart.

<Dom> you know what's so striking to me about <mack's> newspaper advert is that it "looks" like the Chess tournament is a kind of incidental event meant mainly to promote a furniture sale.

In fact, I'll wager the digs upstairs in that store were substantial- given that the Tournament was so major.

And yes as you know they built these "Temperance" Hotels all over the place.

I bet the "rules" were bent "sotto voce" when the Big Man walked in to the room.

I love all of those "Tournament group Portraits" that have Alekhine sitting in the center chair, with his palpable Regal Bearing.

Truly he was a bona fide King. The King of Chess.

Here is a Chess History film I made about <Vera Menchik>.

There is a sketch of the "Temperance Queen's Hotel, Hastings" at 1:53

And <Dom> you may be interested to see a very rare photograph I found of a rather young and svelte <Vera Menchik> glowering across the board at <Marcel Duchamp> at the Paris 1929 Tournament.

This photo is at 2:58

The music for this film derives from <hms123's> recommendations.

Faure, Faure, and Mahler.

I forgot to put in the link.

On the other hand, *male* nudity is so hideous in general that perhaps it's better to stress the female version.

Anyway, brilliantly sourced, as usual. How do you find these pics? I'd never seen the Duchamp one before.

One tiny quibble. I believe that Milner-Barry went by the first name (Sir) Stuart, rather than his real first name, Philip.

For some incomprehensible reason, the word "Axis" comes to mind though... :p

<Dom>... heh. What Shakespeare I have read, was in Hungarian translation. Poe likewise. One can't help but be familiar with the English versions of the more famous passages anyway, as a netizen - they are all over the place. :)

<The collected works of Shakespeare, along with books by Tolkien, King and Rowling, were publicly burned in Alamogordo, New Mexico>

Rowling?! The criminals. Well, at least her place in "the hall of fame" was recognized. Rowling is really excellent. Reminds me of your earlier link's reference to Ballard as a "myth-maker" - I've applied that term before to describe some of the best writers, such as Zelazny... and Rowling.

Have you read the HP series? :)

<Jessica> I watched the Menchik video - it's really quite good.

I have some design-related comments on it.

I see you've chosen to use Times New Roman font for your captions... it really stands out in YouTube's Arial environment, and not in a positive way. You may want to be aware of studies showing that while serif (such as Times New Roman) fonts are the ideal font choice for <printed material>, sans-serif fonts are considered to be the ideal fonts for on-screen text: particularly Verdana at 10 points size, and Arial at 12 points size.

http://www.edcsi.com/media/HTML%20E...

http://www.resultscorporation.co.uk...

The above two references are rather dated, but should give you an idea about the basic differences in readability between the printed and on-screen text.

Another point: When you show a board position, the watcher may want to spend a few seconds taking it in - your having text pop up right in the middle of it is a distraction. Given that the YouTube window is rectangular, if possible, I'd suggest something like gradually moving the board to the left and then using the space to the right for the text.

There are occasional misunderstandings. One Australian woman I knew swore she'd punch the next person to call her 'girl'. I tried explaining the idiom ... but I suspect punching guys was *her* idiom. Cultural variation, innit?

I find 'ladies' more offensive, due to its pseudo-gentility and attempted poshness. But that's just my last residual bits of class warrior mode screaming for attention.

So do I, for exactly the same reasons. Plus the implied behavioral expectations, i.e., what was supposed to be "ladylike" behavior back in Queen Victoria's day. Grrrrrrrr. But what's wrong with 'women'? ;)

<'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend'>

We - netizenry - have "SO" for that these days, n'est-ce pas?

<I also have Ballard's 'The Drowned World' in Hungarian. I can't quite recall the title ... something like 'Vizby Fult Vulag'?>